“I’m concerned that, at times, historic preservation may be trumping other important goals, like creating affordable housing, providing modern park facilities and libraries and improving pedestrian safety,” he said in a statement.

Wiener asked that a number of city agencies, including the Planning Department, library and Metropolitan Transit Agency, testify at a yet-to-be-scheduled hearing.

We’ll bet that some preservationists will want to have their say too.

Mike Buhler, head of San Francisco Architectural Heritage, said it’s easy to demonize historic preservation. He hopes the hearing will provide an opportunity to show Wiener and others how important preservation is.

“Historic preservation is about managing change over time and not preventing it,” he said. “(It) protects the very qualities that attract people to a neighborhood in a first place.”